May 16 Saturday to 18 Monday, 2026 (Canada’s Victoria Day long weekend), I had the pleasure of leading 15 members of the Toronto Bicycling Network (https://www.tbn.ca/ more rides, more friends, more fun) on the iconic Cannon Ball 300 bikepacking route — named Cannon Ball 300 to commemorate the short lived production of the Cannon Ball bicycle manufactured in Thorold, Ontario from 1895 to 1898. The route passes through Thorold, where a mural displays the town’s history and the Cannon Ball Bicycle. Most in our group had never done a bikepacking overnight trip. This is a gravel bike type of route and everyone (except me) road a gravel bike. However, I used my Binary Bicycles Kinetic titanium mountain bike that I built up for really long unpaved bikepacking trips, as I will be doing some of these this season. Saturday we had to take shelter when a massive thunder, lightning and rain storm hit. This made Saturday’s rail trails dirty, but luckily not too soft and muddy. However, at Selkirk Provincial Park the rain had made all the campsites muddy. Sunday was a beautiful day along quiet road on the shores of Lake Erie and up the Welland Canal trail. The KOA Niagara Falls campground was a great family campground with pool, hot tub and sauna, and a magic show for the kids. However, the campsites were again very muddy from the rain storm. Four of us paid an extra $20 for a cabin. Monday morning the route included some very technical steep single track. The rest of the day riding west to Hamilton we struggled into very strong headwinds and the unseasonably high temperature. Despite rain, mud, camping, difficult single track, and wind, our TBN crazy bikepackers were troopers, enjoying the trip and supporting each other.
Thanks to #Enlesce Capsule Bib Shorts (and jersey, base layer singlet, and socks) for making this (and every) ride so comfortable! https://enlesce.com/ — Designed in Canada and made in Europe.
–Greg Andre-Barrett.
Trip photo album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/B7QFcdPPDCwURV5JA.
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